The new YMCA is located on a bisecting garden and path that meanders through the city’s heart. The Responsive urban downtown activity center continues this existing green space with a program of fitness, cultural and housing elements.

Energy from all activities (e.g. a jogger) can be collected to then power the infrastructure on-site (e.g. path lighting).

Project Timeline

October 16, 2008 | Winners for North America announced | Montréal, QC, Canada

Holcim Awards Gold 2008 North America (foreground, l-r): Rolf Soiron, Chairman of Holcim and of the Advisory Board of the Holcim Foundation; winning team members Nigel Nicholls, Colin Cathcart and Christopher Collins; Adèle Naudé Santos, Head of Regional Holcim Awards Jury and Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning; Benoît-H. Koch, Member of the Executive Committee of Holcim Ltd.

The 3rd prize was awarded to Harvard Graduate School of Design student Andrew Lantz for his proposal for an urban fitness, cultural and housing center that collects energy from kinetics, such as running on a treadmill, to power the structure.

Locating itself on a bisecting garden and artiﬁcial path weaving through downtown Boston, the concept for a new YMCA proposes a continuation of this existing green space and to articulate the notion of a program as path which is made up of ﬁtness, cultural and housing program elements. The unique idea is to gather and use the energy created with the activities intrinsic within each program category, such as running on a treadmill, for instance.

The new YMCA is located on a bisecting garden and path that meanders through the city’s heart. The Responsive urban downtown activity center continues this existing green space with a program of fitness, cultural and housing elements. Energy from all activities (e.g. a jogger) can be collected to then power the infrastructure on-site (e.g. path lighting).